Hi all,

Hopefully a quick one;

Just out tonight on a short run and decided to check the tyre pressures. Did that and then once restarted I couldn't get the car in gear?? I thought what the **** and then on inspection it turns out the adjustment at the clutch arm had come completely loose.

Failed in being prepared as I had no tools on me to sort it so had to stick it in 2nd start the car and nurse it home judging every junction meticulously and getting the revs up (engine sounds so sweet at the moment).

Question is what set ups have people got at the adjuster end of things. I don't have the wing nut that was there originally so its currently a sort of double nut arrangement but I reckon the vibration has made it loose...

Any pointers for good solutions would be appreciated.

Cheers

I use the standard vw wing nut £3.65p

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-T1-BEETLE-T2-TRANSPORTER-CAMPER-VAN-CLUTCH-CABLE-WING-NUT-131721349-A377-/191054199583?fits=Car+Make%3AVW&hash=item2c7bb7bb1f:g:ZxUAAOxy63FS6QoK

It had one of them in a previous guise but what stops that coming loose?

If memory serves correct, the end that comes into contact with the clutch lever is pyramid shaped and lever has grooves that it sits in so the tension keeps it all in place

OK, well its probably the best thing for the job then.

My cable has one of those type of terminations where the cable is looped through a hole on a threaded rod and then the length of the rod is adjusted by a nut on the other side of the lever and then locked by a second nut. Its probably good enough but I've always felt it could be bettered. I might just fit a lock washer or something for now..

just double checked Mike, the hole in the clutch lever arm is not round its diamond or squareish shaped, so the pyramid shaped end of the wingnut just sits slightly inside it, the theory is it can't  spin and come lose due to the tension in the cable.

Ah, OK, hopefully its the same thread as what I have on there...I will see if I can pick one up from GSF tomorrow, cheers..

The VW wingnut is a weird size 7mm x 1.00 thread so to use one of those you do need the original threaded bar that comes on the end of the standard clutch cable and not something else that has been modified to suit

ok, just read a good thread on this from last year. Seems the Empi adjuster, which mine is, is not well thought of...
I will make it good for now and re-run with new cables etc in a few weeks..

well on closer inspection everything at the lever end looks to be still tight..the pedal is also activating the lever but there is an awful amount of free play in the pedal...

Hope the clutch release mechanism hasn't failed in use as it was only installed last year...

Can you remember when you fitted the new clutch if the release bearing is held in place with a clip on each side, if so, then they are known to fail...

H

Could be cable failure by breaking and stretching or if the bend has gone from the outer conduit the pipe in the chassis may have broken it,s welds and moved forwards.

Its a 215mm clutch that was on the engine when we installed it, looked to be in good shape and we had to convert to the later style of clutch release mechanism so it has the later style of release bearing.

The cable hasn't snapped and would hope it hasn't started to fray, it was also new last year.

Was all working well and just couldn't engage gear to get out of the service station.

I'm wondering if the welds have broken on the release arm....There is resistance when manually trying to push the lever at the gearbox end but quite a bit of free play at the pedal, probably about 2/3 of total travel feels to be free.

Will try and adjust it in the morning and check for what Snoopy says (when you say outer conduit, do you mean the Bowden tube?)

The clutch is not slipping as once I did get moving the buggy pulled like a train...

Only went out for a test run as I had tweaked the carbs a tad, at least that seemed to have worked....

I was hoping to get to VWO but may not if the engine has to come out.

I do hope I'm wrong but if it was ok when you stopped for air and then not in an instant it sounds like either the cable has started to fail or the conduit has come away inside the tunnel.

I have never heard of or seen A failure of the later type fork arms they are tough as opposed to the early spot welded ones.

The Jas cable went at Colchester on the way to IBW in may last year and adjusted up but managed probably another 1000 miles before failing fully which was a first for me as they initially go then another 4 or 5 applications they snap completely which happened on the daily last year.